FAA Safety July/August 2013 BRIEG FIN Your source for general aviation news and information Be Prepared What Would MacGyver Do?, p. 10 Defensive Flying – Staying One Step Ahead, p. 14 Beyond the Checklist, p. 17 Federal Aviation faa.gov/news/safety_briefing Administration @FAASafetyBrief FAA Safety Briefing is the FAA safety policy voice of non-commercial general aviation. The July/August 2013 issue of FAA Safety Briefing focuses on airman preparedness. Articles explore procedures, techniques, and equipment that can help you stay ahead of the aviation safety curve and prepare for the unexpected. 14 10 Features 5 Are You Prepared? How to Get the Most Out of Your AirVenture Adventure by Tom Hoffmann 10 What Would MacGyver Do? A Look into Aviation Survival Equipment by Sabrina Woods 14 Defensive Flying Being Prepared for the Unexpected by Steve Sparks 17 Beyond the Checklist Little Things that Can Make a Big Difference in Your Safety by Mike Schwartz 19 Distressed over Emergency Beacons? Know How to ‘Save’ Yourself by Paul Cianciolo 24 And the Winners Are… The 2013 National GA Award Winners by James Williams Departments 17 1 Jumpseat – an executive policy perspective 2 ATIS – GA news and current events 7 Aeromedical Advisory – a checkup on all things aeromedical 19 9 Ask Medical Certification – Q&A on medical certification issues 26 Checklist – FAA resources and safety reminders 27 Nuts, Bolts, and Electrons – GA maintenance issues 29 Angle of Attack – GA safety strategies 30 Vertically Speaking – safety issues for rotorcraft pilots 31 Flight Forum – letters from the Safety Briefing mailbag 32 Postflight – an editor’s perspective Inside back cover FAA Faces – FAA employee profile JOHN ALLEN Jumpseat DIRECTOR, FLIGHT STANDARDS SERVICE Preparing for the Unpredictable Prepare for the unknown by studying how others what true aviation preparedness means to me. In any in the past have coped with the unforeseeable aviation training program, the formal curriculum and the unpredictable. necessarily and appropriately focuses most heav- — Gen. George S. Patton ily on preparing for what is known. We learn about known aerodynamic principles and their practical As I have noted in these pages before, I caught implications for flight. We learn about known aircraft the aviation bug at an early age when my cousin and I systems and performance capa- listened with rapt attention to the stories my dad — a bilities, using carefully developed An aviator’s luck is the self- wartime pilot — and his friends used to tell. I knew charts and graphs to gauge whether back then that I wanted a career that involved flying. and under what circumstances the made version, one that demands In part because of my dad’s example, I started as he aircraft can do what we ask it to do. years of constant, dedicated did: I worked as hard as I could, watched for every And, notwithstanding all the jokes study and preparation. opportunity, and prepared myself to move from inspi- about the uncertainties inherent ration and aspiration to the realization of that dream. in weather forecasting, we learn about known prin- And so, like my dad, I served for many years as a ciples of meteorology. This list goes on. military aviator. Though I did not imagine back then I submit, however, that mastering what is that I might wind up working for the FAA — much known is only the most basic, necessary-but- less as the director of the Flight Standards Service — not-sufficient aspect of preparedness. Aviation my personal and professional background provided safety demands that we also seek to prepare for much of the education, training, and experience that the unknown, and that is where the late General prepared me for this position. Patton’s counsel comes into play. We prepare for the unknown in two key ways. First, we prepare by It’s Not About “Luck” learning as much as possible about, well, everything If there is anything I have learned from the twists related to aviation. Second, we learn from how and turns taken throughout my life and career, it other aviators have coped with would be just how much truth there is in the old unusual circumstances. cliché about how the thing we call “luck” is really just Aviation history is replete with Aviation safety demands the point where opportunity meets preparation. We illustrative examples. Two famous that we seek to prepare for tend to think of that phrase in terms of its application events — United 232’s loss of all the unknown. to careers, and certainly the preparation-plus-oppor- hydraulics in 1989, and USAirways tunity-equals-luck equation applies in that arena. 1549’s goose-induced dual flameout in 2009 — come But it clearly applies to aviation as well. to mind as case studies in how the pilots’ mastery of We have all heard and read about “lucky” pilots the known prepared them to cope with the unfore- who walked away from events that could have had a seen and the unpredictable. Yes, they were “lucky” very different outcome. A lifetime in aviation, includ- — because when the opportunity presented itself in ing stints as an aviation instructor and evaluator, the form of a life-or-death challenge, these aviators leads me to believe that the chance-driven variety of were prepared to take it on. We should all aspire to do luck usually has little to do with it. Rather, I strongly likewise. believe that an aviator’s luck is the self-made version, one that demands years of constant, dedicated study and preparation. You will find a lot of tips on aviation prepared- ness in this issue of FAA Safety Briefing. However, the quote at the top of this page summarizes a lot of Get FAA Safety BRIEFING news at your fingertips. Follow us at ... twitter.com/faasafetybrief or @FAASafetyBrief ATIS AVI ATION NEWS ROUNDUP End of the PTS? tions are consistent with both the ACS documents Documents published in the April 25, 2013 and test question development principles included Federal Register at the request of the government/ in the ARC’s recommendations. industry Airman Testing Standards and Training The Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee Working Group (ATST WG) mark the first stage in ATST WG is scheduled to provide its final report with the FAA’s plan to overhaul the content, process, and draft documents and recommendations by Septem- methodology for its airman certification training and ber 30, 2013. testing system. Publication of these documents is part of an WAAS Tenth Anniversary ongoing process that began in September 2011, when After great anticipation, the Wide Area Augmen- the FAA chartered an Airman Testing Standards and tation System (WAAS) was commissioned for use in Training aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to the U.S. National Airspace System on July 10, 2003. make recommendations on these issues. The ARC In 2003, there was only a handful of WAAS Localizer included broad representation from the aviation com- Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) approach munity, including industry associations, universities, procedures published. There was also just a small training providers, and professional associations. The number of certified WAAS Instrument Flight Rules ARC submitted its report and nine recommendations (IFR) receivers in use. WAAS was just getting started; to the FAA in April 2012, and in September 2012, the the world’s first operational satellite based augmen- industry-led ATST WG was established to implement tation system (SBAS) was the new kid on the naviga- some of these recommendations. tion systems block. A key ARC recommendation was to develop Today, ten years later, thousands of users rely on a comprehensive Airman Certification Standards WAAS to get them safely to their destinations. There (ACS) document for each certificate and rating by are over 3,000 WAAS LPV approach procedures in integrating task-specific knowledge and risk man- existence currently, far more than the number of agement into the existing practical test standards runways serviced by the previous industry staple, (PTS) areas of operation. To demonstrate the con- the Instrument Landing System (ILS). WAAS LPV cept, the ATST WG developed draft ACS documents approach procedures exist at all types of airports for the private pilot certificate and the instrument throughout the nation, from rural Alaskan airports rating. These documents align the aeronautical to community and regional airports, as well as most knowledge testing standards required by 14 CFR part major metropolitan airports. 61 with the flight proficiency standards set out in There have been over 90,000 WAAS IFR receivers the existing PTS. Where appropriate, the ATST WG sold for aviation. This number continues to steadily consolidated overlapping and/or duplicative areas of operation or tasks. Because the ACS documents will serve as the foundation of transition to a more integrated and systematic approach to airman certification testing and training, the ATST WG asked the FAA to make its draft ACS documents for the private pilot certificate and the instrument rating available to the public for review and comment. The comment period closed on July 8, and the ATST WG will use the comments it received to refine its ongoing work. In addition to the private and instrument ACS documents, the ATST WG is developing a proposed ACS for the authorized instructor certificates and ratings. Other tasks include developing a detailed proposal to align and, as appropriate, consolidate existing FAA guidance material (e.g., H-series hand- books) with the ACS documents, and to propose methodologies to ensure that knowledge test ques- 2 FAA Safety Briefing July/August 2013 increase. WAAS also has a strong non-aviation following. WAAS can be found in nearly every non- GPS receiver on the market and has become an indispensable utility in many mapping, forestry, and marine applications.